The Truth
by Ten no Kuroko
Summary: My philosophical thoughts on truth and what makes it what it is. ch.1 is about truth in general. Ch.2 is about Truth in FMA
1. Chapter 1

**Again, this is me writing whatever comes to mind. I wanted to write about the Truth fromFMA. I don't even know if, in the end, I actually wrote about it. I just kind of slipped into truth in general and now you get my philosophical thoughts on truth.**

The Truth is everything and nothing. It is important, an integral part of reality. It is reality. Yet it can have many facets. What is the truth for one might not be the same for another. It is subjective. The world is guided by the laws of nature. That is the Truth.

However the world we humans live in is highly subjective. Worth, laws and morals are always changing. Is it right to kill a person? There were once civilizations in which innocent people were sacrificed to the gods. It was an honour for the sacrifice, completely normal and sometimes the sacrifices themselves where afterwards coveted as gods. Today such practices are seen as barbaric and inhuman. In truth it is merely a change of perception, of morality in societies. Or is it? Maybe it was the Truth all along. Or maybe we should go back to worshiping the sacrife-gods who would surely protect us against natural catastrophes. Or they might kill us themselves for killing them.

The Truth does not care what we do with it. It is without feeling, without true thought. It does not care for sentimentality, grief, joy or anger. It merely exists.

Humans always search for the Truth. Who killed my parents? Why did they have to die? How did the Fuhrer become so powerful? They might never get a real answer, or they might. But if or when they have finally found it, will they truly be happy? Yes, Truth has no care for anyone but itself. It wants to be found. In the end it will always come out. And when it does people might cry. Maybe your aunt killed your parents for their money. Maybe a terrorist killed them because they killed his parents a long time ago. Maybe the Fuhrer had secret backing from a mysterious organization no one believes in, and they want to sacrifice an entire nation for immortality. Maybe your grandfather was one victim in his campaigns for power.

But are those the things you want to believe? Is that the Truth you so desperately seek? No, in truth you merely wished for absolution, for satisfying answers so you can move on. The truth you search for has no true depth. You only want freedom from guilt or curiosity. Maybe you cared about the people the truth concerns. But they are dead and you can't do anything against it. That is also Truth.

What is dead cannot be undone. It does not have several different angles. The only difference is the kind of death and the subjective value another person gives it. But what is dead is dead. It stays dead and cannot be brought back to live, no matter how much we may want it to.

Your aunt is taking good care of you now that your parents are dead. Your parents ran several charities for the poor and were good people. The Fuhrer was a good person who dearly loved his family. Your grandfather died honourably in a war for the sake of your country. Is that the truth you seek? Maybe it is the Truth. It is a different perception of events and people. Who says those are lies? Every event and every person has many facets, too many to truly comprehend. Had one thing been different, everything could have changed. Had the wind blown stronger the bullet could have missed the vital organs. Had your mother not teased her sister as much but told her more about how much she loved her, maybe everyone would be happier for it. Had someone not backed the Fuhrer on his ascension maybe a lot of deaths could have been prevented.

We may never know alternate paths. We can only know a few truths on the path we have walked in the world we live in. They might combine to show the ultimate, complete Truth, but they also might not. But that is nothing bad. The Truth can support or cripple us. It is forever there in our reach if we just search hard enough. But is the Truth truly so important? We can live just as well with just a few truths to support us. My parents loved me. They would want me to live on. Many people have died, but the future continues on. I can be strong enough to live on no matter what. Because every life is precious no matter what.


	2. Chapter 2

Equivalent Exchange. The primary, most important aspect of alchemy. In order to create something, another thing of equivalent worth must be given. Usually this goes back to the chemical build of the object which one seeks to create. The alchemist has to provide the needed amount of the needed atoms for the new creation. Those atoms, however they were provided, have to be placed upon the alchemical circle representing the wanted transmutation. Afterwards the alchemist merely has to place their hands on it to open their gate and give the energy needed for the transmutation. The gate directly links them to God, also known as the Truth, the World and You.

God is the highest rank of the universe. He controls everything not ruled by Free Will.

The World obeys Natural Order, be it the Laws of Nature or the Laws of Equivalent Exchange. It is the keeper of balance in a world driven by human desire.

The Truth seeks to be known and bring Wisdom upon humans. Wisdom gained through understanding of the universe and Truth. It will teach humans and as such change them to the best of its ability. It banishes ignorance.

You wish to know and be happy, to rule, to obey, to love and to hate. You seek all of the universe and wish for nothing at all. You is the Free Will guiding human kind and giving choice. You is the being of mankind, the collective of humanity's nature. You is you yourself and every othee human that was and will be.

They all are one and the same, yet different aspects of what controls everything. The world around us is not only full of coincidences. It is flexible and ever changing. Yet human desire stays the same.

If you had a free wish, what would you wish for? Power, wealth or love? Maybe something completely different. No matter what you would wish for, in the end what you truly want is Happiness. But happiness does not equal Happiness. Everyone has a different dream or wish they believe would bring them closer to their own, personal Happiness. Most of those wishes can be fulfilled through hard work and determination. Someday in the future the dream can come true.

But sometimes it is not so easy. For the Happiness they seek is a dream of the past, long dead with the person they loved more than anything. And so they wish to bring back the dead or hinder death in any way possible.

There once was a king of a great desert country. He was quiet content and happy with his rule. He had everything he could wish for: power, riches and women that flocked to him. He wished for this state to be forever. And so he searched for a way to stay alive forever, to be immortal. At some point he managed to find someone to do it. The Homunculus, the human in the flask created by one of his alchemists knew how to do it. In his mad search for eternal life the king did not care for his subjects any longer, and sacrificed them all to create the Philosophers Stone.

However, the Homunculus had tricked him. He himself was sacrificed for the Homunculus's and a former slave's eternal life. The Homunculus wanted to become the perfect being and saw immortality as the first step. The former slave himself, named Van Hohenheim, had not wished for this. He had wanted only to serve his king.

A woman bore a child, but it soon died. The young mother had never wished for more than a family of her own, especially children to care for. Therefore she was devestated when her child died, the child she had wished for for so long. She sought to bring him back to live and broke the biggest taboo.

Her child did not come back. She lost the ability to ever bear children again, together with her womb.

There once were two brothers who lost their mother to illness. She was their world and with her death came an emptiness they sought to fill. And so they trained until they were skilled enough to attempt human transmutation. They thought they could do what no one else had ever done. They had thought to bring her back together.

The elder lost the arm with the hand that used to hold his mother's. The younger lost his entire body and soul, and with it his connection to the living world, to the only family he had left. The brothers lost the presence of each other. Only by sacrificing his leg, with which he ran over fields with his brother, was the elder able to at least bring back his younger brother's soul. But the younger would not feel what a human ought to feel without a body. Both had to live with guilt of what they did to the other, who was more important to them than themselves.

A colonel was forced to use alchemy to save his subordinate's life. He lost his sight with which he sought to see the future he would built.

All who seek to use alchemy to fulfil a wish must pay back something equivalent. If you merely want a table, then bring the chemicals it is made of and use the appropriate circle. You do not need this table to fulfil a dream, even if the table itself is used to achieve a goal.

Human transmutation is different.

You seek to make something living out of something which is not. You seek to reach into a realm impossible to reach without alchemy in order to rewrite the Natural Order. You seek to enter territory people have long since said to belong to the gods. You seek to do the Impossible.

The World cannot allow the breaking of the Natural Order.

Therefore the Truth seeks to make you understand.

You have to be punished to do so.

No one who tries to break the Natural Order has not been punished. Their dreams were taken from them. Without punishment there cannot be learning for you will try again, merely thinking it to be a malfunction.

The king who sought eternal life died immediately.

The Homunculus who sought perfection would never reach it in his eternal life.

The slave who sought to serve stole what the king wished for.

The woman who wished to be a mother would never bear children.

The boys who wished to bring together their family lost each other.(Though God knew what would happen next)

The boy who wanted his brother back would have to live with the guilt of an incomplete brother. He was only as successful because the soul was still there.

The colonel who wished to change the world lost his vision.

Do not seek what is impossible. Do not go against the Natural Order.

You understands you however.

Those who could not be redeemed died.

Those who could learn would live.

Those who did not wish to do it would regain what they lost without further sacrifice.

Learn from your mistakes. Those who were left alive showed they could do better, they were better, they became better.

What was good in the Homunculus survived to find friends and become leader of a nation.

The slave would find family and happiness with it. He served no one but his family and himself.

The woman raised other children and could be proud of them and what she taught them.

The boys grew up and reached their dreams thanks to their own strength.

The colonel would see his vision come true.

The Truth is that you cannot break the Natural Order. However even without doing so you can be happy. Even if you have lost all that was dear to you, it is still possible to build anew on the ruins of your life. No one is perfect. Nothing is perfect. But perfection is not needed. Everything that ever happened to you builds up who you are. Through suffering you learn a little bit more about the world around you and about yourself. How you will proceed to think and act upon those truths is entirely up to you.


End file.
